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Cape Town - Cole Alexander and Athenkosi Dlala have withdrawn from the Bafana Bafana squad due to injuries.
According to safa.net, after being given a day off from camp on Sunday, May 17, Bafana were back in action on Monday afternoon at the AW Muller Stadium at University of Johannesburg.
However there was bad news for head coach, Shakes Mashaba, with Alexander and Dlala having not recovered from their injuries - while striker Puleng Tlolane still had further assessment before the technical team can take a decision on whether the striker should be replaced as well.
Alexander was stretchered off in the goalless draw against Lesotho after twisting his ankle and has failed to recover - leading to his withdrawal.
Dlala’s injury is an old one which has resurfaced and will not be able to recover in time for the tournament.
“I will have to sit with the technical team to see who we can call up as replacements for the injured players,” said Mashaba.
“It will be done very quickly because Wednesday (May 20) is the last day to de-register injured players and register new ones.
“We have some names we have discussed but we just need to finalise them and inform their clubs as soon as possible so they can hopefully join us at training tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday, May 19).
“It is unfortunate that we have to lose these players after spending one week with them.
“We have a few days with the replacements and they will have to hit the ground running as the tournament is starting on Sunday (May 24).”
Tlolane had a collision with the Lesotho goalkeeper and is going to undergo a late fitness test to see if he can be ready for the COSAFA CUP tournament.
Meanwhile Marc van Heerden (Achilles tendon) and Gift Motupa (ankle) were given a clean bill of health and trained with their team-mates.
